With recreational marijuana and same-sex marriage being legalized in some states and liberal Democrats like Elizabeth Warren taking seats in the Senate, Fox News had to deal with an election night that was fair, but unbalanced. Barack Obama's early re-election as president was the capstone of the night's liberal successes and in reacting to the news, the network went through a very public – and very awkward – grieving cycle.

Denial

It began when an election alert flashed across the screen and the Fox News anchors on deck, Brett Baier and Megyn Kelly, announced that Obama was the projected winner in Ohio. Initially, Baier and Kelly took a measured tone that wasn't overtly oppositional towards Obama's success. But their manner soon turned, as it became clear that this call suggested a definitive overall victory for the president.

The anchors looked for confirmation from higher-ups off-screen... and then the roller-coaster ride of grief began.

Anger

Once Fox News had officially called the the election for Obama, Baier and Kelly responded in the best way they knew – by calling out his flaws.

Baier:

"Republicans thought they had an amazing shot to take down a president who had high unemployment rates, who had a nation that was split over his healthcare law, they thought this was the time, it was not the time."

Kelly:

"And that is what we were told early on in the game, which was the mission on the president's team would be to quote to kill Mitt Romney and to attack his character and to make people believe that he didn't care about them, that he was a corporator, that he was a vulture, a vampire, a vulture capitalist, and already we're getting word that they're gonna question whether Mitt Romney fought back."

Bargaining

Once the camera turned to the former George W Bush strategist and current Fox News contributor Karl Rove, he fought the Ohio call and demanded that the numbers be questioned.

An entertained Chris Wallace tried to deflect the situation and the anchors started giggling. Kelly said: "That's awkward." She then took the intrepid journalistic move of leaving the anchor desk in order to walk down the halls and speak with the in-house statistical experts who had made the call.

Kelly:

"Are you comfortable with your call in Ohio, with the doubts Karl Rove just raised?"

Decision desk:

"We're actually quite comfortable with the call."

Depression

With the in-house experts having ruled in favor of Obama once again, the personalities on-air became solemn and bemoaned the defeat of the "classy" and "not Wall Street person" Romney, while images of celebratory Obama fans danced alongside them.

Acceptance? More like denial... again

Anxiously awaiting the chance to get back at Democrats for 12 years of whining about George W Bush not really being elected president in 2000, the broadcasters seized on the small margin Obama had in the popular vote around midnight.

Brett Hume:

"If Mitt Romney were to win the popular vote it'll be fun to see if we have an outbreak of shoe-on-the-other-foot disease in which it is the Republicans suddenly deciding like the Democrats did in 2000 that this electoral college has got to go."

The network went on cycling through the stages of grieving well into the morning, and it is likely it will continue to do so as very-real accounts of voter suppression and illegal voting continue to trickle in.